Feed-cutter.



WTTED @TATEb PATENT OFFTQE.

ORLANDO G. ERICK, OF MANITOWOG, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR- TO SMALLEY MANUFAC-TUBING CO., OF MANITOWOO, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION OF WISCONSIN.

rnnn-currnn.

oa ers.

To all whom it may concern:

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 23, 1911.

Patented Nov. f2, 1912.

Serial No. 667,466.

the knives, the obstruction in the path of Be it known that I, ORLANDOC. FRICK, a the knives having meanwhile been removed.

citizen of the United States, residing at Manitowoc, county ofManitowoc, and State v of lVisconsin, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Feed-Cutters, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in feed cutters.

The revolving motion of feed cutter knives is frequently checked orwholly stopped by the material, this being due to careless feeding,whereby too great a quantity of material is fed between the knives, orto the presence in the material of some object through which the knivescannot cut, at least without considerable loss in speed. As the feedingconveyer of a feed cutter is ordinarily driven from the knife shaft, thesudden stopping thereof, (particularly of the blower where a windstacker is employed), subjects the sprocket chains to heavy strains, andallows the material in the blower and stacker tube to drop back and clogthe tube or fan. This makes it necessary to clean out the tube andblower manually before again starting the machine.

In a former Patent Number 292182, dated January 22nd, 1884, mechanism isshown and described which permits the fly wheel to be released and runfree, thus avoiding the effects of its momentum in case of a suddenstoppage of the knives, and the object of my present invention is toprovide means whereby the driving pulley is allowed to be released andcontinue in motion and the blower to be driven continuously therefrom,notwithstanding the stoppage of the knives and knife shaft.

lVith the above object in view, the driving sprocket wheel of the bloweractuating chain is not mounted upon the knife shaft in accordance withthe usual custom, but it is mounted upon a clutch member which runsloose on such shaft and which is coupled directly with the hub of thedriving pulley. The latter is releasably connected with the knife shaftand adapted to run free in case the knives are stopped suddenly, thesudden shock being utilized to cause the release of the pulley. Theblower and any other mechanism connected with the pulley, will thereuponbe continuously driven until manually stopped, whereupon the pulley willagain be placed in operative relation to In the drawings :Figure 1 is aside elevatlon of a feed cutter showing the general relation of theparts in which my invention is embodied. Fig. 2 is a horizontal detailsectional view, showing a portion of the knife and blower shafts andknives, the sprocket wheel, together with the. coupling members, anddriving pulley.

Like parts are identified by the same reference characters in bothviews.

A is the knife shaft of a feed cutter.

B is a driving pulley, C a driving belt, and D is the shaft of a blowerdriven from the shaft A by a sprocket chain E which runs over sprocketpulleys F and G on the knife shaft and blower shaft respectively. Thesprocket pulley F, however, is not connected directly with the knifeshaft A, but is loose thereon. Its hub f constitutes the driven memberof a clutch of which the hub Z) of the pulley B constitutes the drivingmember. These members are provided with interlocking teeth I) and frespectively, whereby the rotation of the pulley huh I) imparted to thesprocket hub f.

The knife shaft A is provided with a tapered extremity a, which fits ina correspondingly tapered socket in the pulley hub Z). A. clamping nut His threaded upon the reduced extremity h of the shaft A in the samedirection as thatv in which the pulley turns, and this nut H bearsagainst the outer end of the pulley hub 7) to bind or wedge the hub Z)on the tapered end of the shaft so as to rotate the same. The inner endof the sprocket wheel hub 7 seats against a collar J which is fixed uponthe shaft A and rotates with it. The knives K are also connected withthe shaft A in the usual manner to rotate with it.

l Vith the above described construction, if the knives K strike anobstruction which they cannot cut, the shaft A is immediately stopped.The shock of stopping causes the release of pulley B which, by its owninertia and that of the parts connected with it, tends to continue inrotation. As the pulley B is not keyed to the shaft A, it commences torotate independently when the shaft is suddenly stopped, and thisrotation of the pulley causes the nut H to unscrew sufficiently torelieve the pulley hub from binding pressure upon the tapered por' tiona of the shaft so that the pulley runs freely on the shaft. The nut I-Imay rotate or unscrew until it strikes a cross pin or key a, whichprojects from the extremity of the shaft A. This limits the out-wardmove ment of the nut H, and not only prevents the pulley B from leavingthe shaft A, but also prevents it from .moving outwardly longitudinallyto such an extent as to release the clutch. The pulley B and sprocketwheel F will therefore continue to rotate, and the blower shaft D willbe continuously driven until the driving mechanism is stopped manually.By thus continuing the blower in action after the knives have ceasedrotating, the blower casing L and stacker tube M are cleared so thatwhen the driving mechanism is brought to rest, no clogging results. Theobstruction may then be removed from the knives, nut H and pulley B maybe again tightened upon the shaft A, and the machine thus restored tonormal operative condition.

I claim 1. The combination with the knives and blower of a feed cutter,said blower being operative to convey material cut by said knives, of adriving pulley independently connected with both the knives and theblower, and means for utilizing stopping shocks in the knives toautomatically release the pulley therefrom while said driving pulleyremains operative to drive said blower.

2. The combination with the knives and blower, knife shaft and blowershaft of a feed cutter, said blower being operative to convey materialcut by said knives, of a driving pulley mounted upon the knife shaft,and having independent motion transmitting connection with the blowershaft, and means for binding the pulley upon the knife shaft, in motiontransmitting relation thereto; said binding means being adapted torelease the pulley for free rotation upon the knife shaft while saidpulley remains operative to drive said blower in case the motion of theknife shaft is suddenly checked.

3. The combination with the knives and knife shaft of a feed cutter, ofa driving pulley provided with a drivingclutch memher, a driven clutchmember loose on said shaft and interlocking with the driving clutchmember, and means for releasably securing the pulley to said shaft andreleasing the same for independent rotation Copies of this patent may beobtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patentunder stopping shocks in the knife shaft, together with a blower fordelivering the cut feed, and power transmitting connections between thedriven clutch member and said blower.

4E. The combination with the knives of a feed cutter, of a knife shafthaving a tapered end portion, a driving member having a hub providedwith a tapered bore, a nut threaded on the extremity of the shaft in thedirection of normal rotation of the driving member and adapted to bearupon said driving member to cause it to bind upon the. tapered shaftend, and power transmit-.

ting connections operatively connected to be driven from said drivingmember independ ently of the shaft whereby the same may be continuouslydriven notwithstanding a stoppage of the knife shaft.

5. The combination with the knives of a feed cutter, of a knife shaftprovided with a tapered end portion, a driving pulley having a taperedsocket, adapted to seat with binding pressure upon said tapered shaftportion, .a nut threaded upon the extremity of the shaft beyond thetapered portion, and binding against the pulley hub, means for limitingthe outward movement of the nut, a clutch member loose on the shaft, andadapted for interlocking engagement with the pulley, and powertransmitting connections operatively connected to be driven from saidclutch member.

6. The combination with the knives and knife shaft of a feed cutterprovided with a tapered end portion, of a driving pulley having atapered socket, adapted to seat with binding pressure upon said taperedshaft portion, a nut threaded upon the extremity of the shaft beyond thetapered ortion, and binding against the pulley fiub, and means forlimiting the outward movement of the nut, together with a clutch memberloose on the shaft, loosely interlocked with the pulley, and adapted toremain in interlocking engagement during the outward movement of thenut, and a blower operatively connected with said clutch member.

I11 testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

ORLANDO C. FRIGK.

lVitnesses:

HILDA HENRIKsoN, C. E. BRADY.

Washington, D. G. i

